The Super Series (SS20) kicked off with a bang at Stormont, delivering a double-header that was a tale of two very different matches. While the morning belonged to the batters, the afternoon turned into a grueling scrap for every run. By the time the dust settled on the second game—Match 2 of the series—the Typhoons had clawed their way to a nervy two-wicket victory, ensuring the day ended with both sides claiming a win apiece. It was a classic display of momentum swings, with the Dragons’ early dominance in the first game being met by a fierce, bowling-heavy response from the Typhoons in the late afternoon sun.
The second match of the day felt like a complete 180-degree turn from the high-scoring opener. After the Dragons had piled on nearly 200 runs earlier in the day, their batting lineup suddenly found the Stormont pitch much more difficult to navigate. Several batters fell to deliveries that stayed unexpectedly low, and the fluid stroke play we saw in the morning vanished. The Dragons were eventually bundled out for a meager 83 runs. At the interval, it looked like the Typhoons would stroll to the target, but the low-scoring nature of the game turned the chase into a psychological thriller.
The star of the show for the Typhoons’ bowling unit was undoubtedly Ava Canning. Having sat out the first game of the day, she delivered a defining spell in this game. Canning was relentless, finding a perfect length and letting the pitch do the rest of her work. She ripped through the Dragons’ middle order, finishing with incredible figures of 4 wickets for just 8 runs in her 4-over spell. Her ability to keep the pressure on meant that no Dragons batter was able to cross the 15-run mark, leaving their bowlers with a mountain to climb to defend such a small total.
However, the Dragons didn’t go down without a fight, thanks to a masterclass in defensive bowling from Arlene Kelly. Knowing they only had 83 to defend, Kelly produced one of the most clinical spells of the tournament so far. She was nearly unplayable, mixing her pace and hitting the stumps with surgical precision to finish with 5 wickets for 8 runs. Alongside Freya Sargent (1-18) and Lara McBride (1-24), Kelly turned what should have been a routine chase for the Typhoons into a frantic survival mission.
The Typhoons’ chase was a rollercoaster of emotions for the onlookers at Stormont. Every time a small partnership seemed to be forming, the Dragons would strike back. Wickets fell at regular intervals, and as the required runs ticked down into single digits, the tension was palpable. It took until the final ball of the 17th over for the Typhoons to finally cross the finish line. They ended on 87/8, scraping home by the skin of their teeth. It wasn’t the prettiest win, but in a game where the ball was dominating the bat so thoroughly, those two wickets left in the shed felt like a massive margin.
Looking at the numbers from the day, the contrast is staggering. In the first game, the Dragons posted 189-4 behind Sophie Reid’s 61 (40) and Orla Prendergast’s 40 (26), winning by 41 runs. But in the match that followed, the combined total for both teams barely cleared 160 runs. Rebecca Stokell had a solid day overall, anchoring the Typhoons’ earlier chase with 45, but it was the specialist bowling performances of Canning and Kelly in the afternoon that will be remembered as the highlights of this double-header.
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